A church group in Sweden is planning to drop thousands of electronic Bibles over parts of Iraq controlled by Islamic State.

“The Bibles are the size of pill boxes and have a display,” said Christian Åkerhielm from the Livets Ord (Word of Life) group in an interview with SVT. “They require no electricity, but work on their own.”

The church said on its website: “Our ambition is to pass on the hope and love that can fit in the Christian gospel to a population living in closed areas where human rights are denied.”

“We start our project in a few weeks and hope to drop thousands of Bibles,” it added. The drop will be carried out by another group on Livets Ord’s behalf, who will be using drones to deliver the devices from high altitude.

Founded in 1983, Livets Ord is an evangelical church with similarities to the Pentecostal movement in the US. “Through worship, preaching and mission we get to be a part of sharing the message of Jesus Christ with the world,” its website says. “We get to see God do great things and touch thousands of lives all over the world.”

In the past the church has sent missionaries to countries including Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Israel, and India.

Livets Ord disputed claims that the Bible drop represented an “attack” on Islamic State, saying: “The project has been in the media portrayed as an ‘attack on IS’ or with the terror group as the main target. This is not true.

“Our ambition is to pass on the hope and love that can fit in the Christian gospel to a population living in closed areas where human rights are denied it.

“The project is done in consultation and collaboration with local partners in the area … [and] occurs in parallel with humanitarian efforts, medical team in refugee camps and distributing food and clothing to the needy.”